I find my ducks on the water late at night...

[Duck Lady1]

For the past six weeks I moved my 3 peking from their contained environment in my fenced in backyard where they looked bored and hot and bored with their little pool... to the open pond just outside my backyard (it has about a dozen ⅓ acre lots around it). The neighbors love them, the ducks love it-- it's been great.

I keep a dog crate under a tree and every night I go out there and gently get them in the crate where they are protected until morning.

Lately when I've gone out there at night, I always find them out on the pond at night. They see me and come to greet me and eagerly go to the crate because they know I'll be giving them their bedtime snack.

My sons tell me, "mom, they look so happy under the stars on the pond... why don't you just let them sleep out there." Preditors!

What do you think though - should I let them sleep on the pond at night?

 

[Naser]

No don't a predator will kill them

 

[Buckeye Amy]

Mine slept in the water at night. Never got taken by anything. They slept with their feet just touching the ground where it was shallow. If something startled them the hens would quack loudly and all would quickly fly out to deeper water. I had 8. I don't have ducks now but still think of how cool it was to see them living independently out there. I offered them their feed in a bowl and they got the majority of their food in the pond by catching frogs, feeding on aquatic plants and scouring the lawn for bugs in late afternoon.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

My coworker told me about the time that he got ducks and let them swim in the neighborhood pond... but they wouldn’t come back. He said that every night, another one would disappear until they were all gone...Our ducks are mostly in a coop/run with supervised pond access as we’ve lost several to predators from the pond edge. We’ve lost enough in the day that I’m way too afraid to let them stay out at night. Maybe it’s breed dependent? Our are Welsh harlequin and domestic mallard. They are not very wary or alert, even after the losses.

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

I would give them as long as possible on the pond at night and then bring them - so exactly what you are doing !

Ours love a night swim too.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

some predators will swim out to the pond, drag them back to land, and eat them

 

[Duck Lady1]

So I have continued to keep them crated at night... but... I'm using a dog crate, not a duck house.

A couple came by my backyard and told me how excited they were about my 3 pekings. We live in a VERY planned community. It has over 1000 houses and it's VERY new- like 10 years old and still growing.

Nearly every home is on a pond-it's a system of man made ponds connected together in a planned system. There is nothing but houses in all directions - houses and ponds.

The lady said that 4 years ago she raised 4 pekings in her backyard and moved them out to her pond. She wasn't as lucky as I am with neighbors who adore the 3 ducks. Her neighbor kicked up a fuss bc her neighbor didn't have a fence and didn't like her ducks in her yard. She finally put the four ducks on a farm. She said that she never put her white ducks up at night - they just slept in the grass. She said for 4 years no predator bothered them.

She said putting them in that crate was dangerous -

She said the ducks will be endangered no matte== tbc.

 

[Duck Lady1]

Okay I woke up and can finish now.. :=)

So the woman told me that she got a mallard next bc she figured the mallard would just roam free and be wild and not bother the neighbor. Problem is the mallard loved her and her dogs and rarely left their yard. Would rather sit all day in their little pool than roam free on the pond. She said she would carry the poor thing to the pond and urge the duck to swim, and as soon as she let go of him, he flew back to her yard.

So she said for a few years the duck was fine- never stayed in a duck house or cage or anything. But she said the mallard would hid under the picnic table next to the house - enclosed in a fence. She figured he was hiding from predator birds that way.

But a predator eventually got her.

Her take was different. She said the white ducks she had were fine out in the open and the neighborhood has few preidotrs that would bother them. But she said the crate I'm using is really worse. An owl can reach into the cage with his talons and a snake or water moccasin can slither in and attack them and the ducks would not be able to escape.

She said creditors get into duck houses too.

It seems no where they are safe.

But she did say this planned community isn't as bad as out in the country.

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

I don't know what to say other than my birds go into a house at night, every night and we havent lost one yet this way (touch wood !).

So is the issue for your neighbour the type of 'house' you have ?

 

[LT71689]

The concern about something reaching into a crate is valid - its the same reason people with coops use smaller-holed hardware cloth instead of the wider flimsier chickenwire, and why people don't let their birds have access to their runs at night unless they're extra secure. However a properly built coop's whole purpose is to provide a safe place away from predators. If it's built sturdy, any openings are covered with hardware cloth, and the doors locked securely then they ought to be fine at night. Much better than being left out in the open.

Her duck was obviously not safe hiding itself under a picnic table, as evidenced by the fact that it was killed, so I'm not sure I'd take her advice.